It is amazing how little effort most people make to improve control of their attention. If reading a book seems too difficult,… — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
Unless a person knows how to give order to her thoughts, attention will be attracted to whatever is most problematic at the… — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
“The mark of a person who is in control of consciousness is the ability to focus attention at will, to be oblivious… — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
Attention is like energy in that without it no work can be done, and in doing work is dissipated. We create ourselves… — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
Flow is the process of achieving happiness through control over one's inner life. The optimal state of inner experience is order in… — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
Attention is psychic energy, and like physical energy, unless we allocate some part of it to the task at hand, no work… — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
“To achieve creativity in an existing domain, there must be surplus attention available.” — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
“but make the self grow? To fill free time with activities that require concentration, that increase skills, that lead to a development… — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
“These examples suggest what one needs to learn to control attention. In principle any skill or discipline one can master on one’s… — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
A paycheck is a sufficient impetus to motivate some employees to do the minimum amount to get by, and for others, the… — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
The more a person feels skilled, the more her moods will improve; while the more challenges that are present, the more her… — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
It is better to look suffering straight in the eye, acknowledge and respect it’s presence, and then get busy as soon as… — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
“After curiosity, this quality of concentrated attention is what creative individuals mention most often as having set them apart in college from… — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
If you are interested in something, you will focus on it, and if you focus attention on anything, it is likely that… — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
“The optimal state of inner experience is one in which there is order in consciousness. This happens when psychic energy—or attention—is invested… — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
In large organizations the dilution of information as it passes up and down the hierarchy, and horizontally across departments, can undermine the… — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
“Inner conflict is the result of competing claims on attention.” — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
“a constant alternation between a highly concentrated critical assessment and a relaxed, receptive, nonjudgmental openness to experience. His attention coils and uncoils,… — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
“Although watching TV is far from being a positive experience—generally people report feeling passive, weak, rather irritable, and sad when doing it—at… — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
We shape our life by deciding to pay attention to it. It is the direction of our attention and its intensity that… — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
For a person to become deeply involved in any activity it is essential that he knows precisely what tasks he must accomplish,… — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
“Entropy is the normal state of consciousness—a condition that is neither useful nor enjoyable. To avoid this condition, people are naturally eager to fill… — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
Most enjoyable activities are not natural; they demand an effort that initially one is reluctant to make. But once the interaction starts to provide… — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
People without an internalized symbolic system can all too easily become captives of the media. — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
Through learning we grow, becoming more than we were before, and in that sense learning is unselfish, because it results in the transformation of… — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
“Unfortunately, many people find the only challenges they can respond to are violence, gambling, random sex, or drugs. Some of these experiences can be… — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
It is essential to learn to enjoy life. It really does not make sense to go through the motions of existence if one does… — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
“It is usual to explain the motivation of those who enjoy dangerous activities as some sort of pathological need: they are trying to exorcise… — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
“Wisdom and integrity cannot be found in any single domain. A broader viewpoint that breaks across disciplinary boundaries is needed, a way of understanding… — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
For better or worse, our future will be determined in large part by our dreams and by the struggle to make them real. — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
Many business leaders today view their jobs as entailing responsibility for the welfare of the wider community. These individuals do not define themselves as… — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
The rules themselves are clear enough, and within everyone’s reach. But many forces, both within ourselves and in the environment, stand in the way.… — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
When each of these three elements of vision-concern for excellence, for people and for the wider environment-are present, business is transformed from a tool… — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
